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New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa was prevented from participating in a rally in Kurunegala yesterday (30) after his helicopter was unable to land in Kurunegala due to alleged sabotage.

Premadasa was to address a rally in Kurunegala yesterday.

Deputy Minister Ajith P. Perera has told the media that the electricity was cut off in the area just before the helicopter could land.

Perera has noted that the Kurunegala Municipality had cut off the electricity at the spot the helicopter was to land placing Premadasa’s life in danger.

The Kurunegala Municipal Council is controlled by the Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

According to Perera, the helicopter was eventually diverted forcing Premadasa to skip the Kurunegala rally.

At the rally, State Minister Ashoka Abeysinghe had said that Premadasa was unable to attend as his helicopter faced difficulties when landing as a result of a sudden power cut and has added that the area had also experienced a water cut.

Meanwhile, an election office of the NDF in Eheliyagoda was also burned down in the early hours of yesterday.

The Elections Commission has taken the necessary steps toincrease the time allocated for voting at the presidential election on November16th after political parties agreed to the proposal presented by theCommission to extend the voting time period by one hour.

The proposalwas agreed upon during a meeting held at the Election Commission between theCommission members and political party representatives yesterday (29).
Accordingly,a gazette notification was issued extending the presidential polls voting hoursfrom 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Attorney General’s (AG) Department has concluded action in 13,283 criminal cases within the first 10 months of this year.

The Department has further said it has forwarded 8,319 indictments to the High Courts during the same period. This was revealed by the Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne.

On a proposal made by the Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera, the Cabinet of Ministers today (29) approved the implementation of the Millenium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) US$ 480 Million grant.

According to Samaraweera, the funding is granted for three main projects to be completed within a period of five years.

“A special transport development program covering the Colombo metropolitan area to reduce the traffic congestion by reduced travel time, traffic emissions, and accidents combined with the bus transportation service modernisation programme including private and public sector transportation service,” he said.
Samaraweera also said under transport development, a 131 kilometre road network on Central wing road connecting Sabaragamuwa, East, North Central, Central and Wayaba provinces to Colombo markets and export hub will be developed.  

Further, he said improvement on land administration process also will be done in eight districts.

“This will include the land valuation system, upgrading 10 land registries and preparations of parcel fabric map of all State and private land to facilitate the activities of Survey Department,” he noted.

These compact programmes to be funded by this project have been developed by the Sri Lankan officials of the relevant line ministries and departments based on the needs of the country. The Sri Lankan government has the option of amending the identified projects even after the signing of the agreement, spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance said.     

Sri Lanka is the 37th recipient of such grant funds from the people of the United States of America. The Minister of Finance will sign the agreement in the near future as it was confirmed by the Cabinet today and the  implementation will begin in early 2020, the spokesperson added.

This is a great victory for the government and augurs well for the future. Sri Lanka began negotiations with the MCC in 2001 at the direction of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the then Prime Minister. MCC negotiations were led by the Ministry of Finance and the MCC compact was developed and finalized by the Compact Development Team of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Elections Commission said nearly 659,030 were eligible to cast their postal votes from today (31) till November 5 with November 7 as an additional day for postal voting.

Elections Commission Director Channa P. De Silva has told the media that the Elections Commission had initially set aside October 31 and November 1 for public servants and November 4 and 5 for police and armed forces personnel and public servants deployed on election duty.

Postal voting will be held at government offices, divisional and district secretariats with an executive officer of the respective public institution serving as the presiding officer at each of the voting centres.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing corruption and irregularities in the government since 2015 has completed 30 cases along with its proceedings.

The Commission had received a total of 1,346 complaints and the police unit attached to the Commission had completed the initial inquiry into 166 of them.

President Maithripala Sirisena appointed the PCoI to investigate into the allegations of corruption and mismanagement taken place in state institutions from January 15, 2015, to December 31, 2018.

The Commission handed over its first volume of the report to the President on September 27th.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Upali Abeyrathne chaired the Commission while former High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena, former Auditor General Pasdunkorale Arachchige Premathilake, former Ministry Secretary Lalith R. de Silva and former Deputy Inspector General of Police M.K.D. Vijaya Amarasinghe were appointed as members.

The commission had recorded evidence on matters related to storing paddy at Mattala International Airport, misuse of government funds on renting out the DPJ building to the Agriculture Ministry, malpractices during the distribution of textbooks, tabs and school uniform vouchers for students and financial fraud related to Mahapola and Suraksha insurance policies.   

President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly informedthe Cabinet of Ministers yesterday (29) that he would not accept the reportcompiled by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed the EasterSunday attacks.

The PSC presented its report to parliament last Wednesday(23) and Committee In its findings had blamed the incident mainly on the lapseson the part of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and government leaders forfailing to take action to prevent the attack that killed more than 250 people.

The PSC report was presented to the Cabinet chaired byPresident Sirisena yesterday.

Accordingto sources, the President has said he would not accept the report and asked theCabinet not to record it as approved by the Cabinet. The President has insteadasked the government to look into areas where security lapses had beenhighlighted by the Committee.    

A six-member high-level delegation of the Nigerian Army, anxious to learn more about comprehensive training modules of the Special Forces (SF) of the Sri Lanka Army is currently in Sri Lanka on a five-day long visit.

The delegation, led by Major General G Oyefesobi, Director Administration, Nigerian Army includes Brigadier General G.K Nwosu, Brigadier General C.A.A Apere, Colonel T.P Opurum, Lieutenant Colonel S.S Muhammed and Commodore E.O Ferreira, Defence Adviser to the Nigerian High Commission.

Prior to their visit to the Special Forces Training School (SFTS) at Maduru Oya, the delegation on Monday (28) morning called on the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva at the Army Headquarters and shared views on their objectives and motives behind planning an expedition to Sri Lanka particularly, impressed with the skills of Special Forces.

The delegation during the cordial meet with the Commander of the Army expressed their happiness over SF skills, jungle warfare expertise, their exceptional achievements and contribution to the fight against LTTE terrorism several years ago in a convincing manner.

Lieutenant General Silva explained them the Sri Lanka Army’s possibilities for further enhancement of training openings for Nigerian Army personnel, so that Nigerian soldiers could also share experiences with their Sri Lankan counterparts who had gained recognition after humanitarian operations, in which SF soldiers too fought against the world’s most ruthless terrorists.

The visiting Nigerian delegation, curious to know more about the exceptional jungle warfare techniques and skills of the SF further told the Commander of the Army that they are seriously considering to send more troops to Sri Lanka for SF training in future. It was also noted that two more Nigerian Officers are already under training in Sri Lanka following, the Junior Command Course and the SF training in Maduru Oya.

Towards the culmination of the brief meet, both Lieutenant General Silva and Major General G Oyefesobi exchanged mementos of goodwill and understanding. Major General T.S Bansajaya, Director General Training was also associated with day’s interactive meeting.

During their stay in Sri Lanka, the delegation at Maduru Oya SFTS will watch mock urban terrain operations, combat rider firing skills, close quarter combat training sessions, drill and combat shooting demonstrations, ongoing squadron training modules, camouflage and concealment demonstrations, and presentations, submitted by the Officers at the SFTS before they move out for sight-seeing.

The SFTS in coordination with the Army Training School at Maduru Oya has facilitated their stay in Maduru Oya.

The United States appreciated Sri Lanka’sdecision to approve the much delayed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)grant of USD 480 million.

The US Embassy in Colombo announced that underthe agreement, Sri Lanka will retain oversight and control of all aspects of theproposed projects.

The Embassy said the grant includes investmentsto reduce traffic congestion in Colombo, modernize the bus service, and upgrade inter-provincial roads in the center of the country.

It also includes support for the government'sinitiatives to improve land administration.The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday approved the MCC grant of US$ 480 million, the largest grant ever received.

Earlier, President Maithripala Sirisena had blockedthe MCC grant passage in cabinet saying that he will not approve the deal assome of the main opposition had raised concerns over the agreement.

Related News:

Cabinet approves US$ 480 million MCC grant

New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa will not be holding special talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) based on the 13-point demands of a group of five Tamil political parties since he has a clear policy.

These observations were made by attorney-at-law Shiral Lakthilaka, who is a member of Premadasa’s campaign team.

Lakthilaka has noted that Premadasa has clearly stated that he supports devolution of powers within a united Sri Lanka.

“There is nothing to discuss beyond that,” he has said.

A group of Tamil political parties recently signed a memorandum highlighting 13 key demands of the Tamils.

Illangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Tamil People’s Council (TPC) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) signed the memorandum.

The United National Party (UNP) has decided to expel State Minister Wasantha Senanayake from the party, UNP General Secretary, MInister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has said.

Kariyawasam has told the media that action will be taken to remove his State Ministerial portfolio shortly.

State Minister Senanayake had earlier announced that he will not support the party’s presidential candidate, Sajith Premadasa.

During last year’s 52 day illegal coup, Senanayake crossed over between the UNP and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on several occasions.

Protests were staged in Jaffna by families of the missing to coincide with former Defence Secretary and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s visit to the Northern Province yesterday (28).

Families of the missing since the period of the war have continuously been demanding justice, which have fallen on deaf years.

Also, SLPP candidate Gotabaya’s visit to the North came as a surprise to many since a few months ago he refused to travel to the North when summoned by courts to appear for a case on the disappearance of two youths. At the time, Gotabaya cited security concerns as the reason for not traveling to the North since he played a vital role in defeating the separatist terrorists in the North.

However, Gotabaya yesterday made his way to the North to attend several rallies as part of his election campaign.

During his rallies, Gotabaya has appealed to the Tamils to place their faith in him.

Speaking at an election rally in Jaffna he has said that he has always kept his promises and will do so with regards to the promises he makes to the people of the North.

He has also urged the Tamil people to put aside the past and look to the future.

“My policy statement for this election looks at ensuring a prosperous future for the country. The proposals we have made are practical proposals,” Gotabaya has noted.

He has said that if elected President he will rehabilitate and free LTTE cadres currently in custody.

According to Gotabaya, his plan was to release most of the lands occupied by the military but that plan was cut short as there was a change of government in 2015.

The former Defence Secretary has added that steps will be taken to give employment to the youth in the North and also address their outstanding issues under a SLPP government.